


Two Spirits

by Magnavox_23



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Native American Character, Two-Spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 08:45:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnavox_23/pseuds/Magnavox_23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Shades of Grey, Jack & Daniel attempt to redefine their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-slash. Set after Shades of Grey. Names/places are derived from the Navajo and Cheyenne languages (key below). The Two-Spirits ceremony is still conducted today by many Native American tribes. Written for the jd_ficathon’s prompt-a-thon. Prompts: “ritual” & “It felt like a new beginning.” Beta'd by the amazing eilidh17. <3

Daniel supressed a shiver as cool wind caressed the back of his neck. He tugged his boonie down tighter to shield his skin from the crisp air. It was the equivalent to early spring on Asetóvatse as Daniel continued on his morning stroll with Tovohkeso. Tovohkeso appeared unaffected by the wind’s bite, and Daniel eyed the older man’s steadfast look of subtle bemusement. The majority of the tribe was already up and about, the day’s first meal currently being prepared -- a task Jack and Sam had been invited to help with once Jack’s famous café a la instant had made the rounds. Teal’c had followed to observe -- which left Daniel to Tovohkeso’s wiles.

“Your Jack is one of many talents. I see why you have chosen him to be your leader.”

Daniel paused. “Jack, um… we didn’t exactly choose Jack, see General Hammond -- one of our elders -- chose Jack to lead SG-1, Sam was assigned to his team. Teal’c and I kinda followed along…” Daniel frowned to himself, a frown which deepened in the face of Tovohkeso’s knowing grin.

“Then you did choose him,” Tovohkeso stated happily.

Daniel regarded the tribe’s elder, and conceded, “I guess we did…”

“You did,” affirmed Tovohkeso, setting a livelier pace for their walk.

Apart from the cold, Asetóvatse was a beautiful place. Trees, most similar to California redwoods, reached for blue skies through a dusting of fog, the air smelled sweet, and the soil was soft and sandy underfoot. The latter the reason for their continued presence on Asetóvatse, in order to come to an agreement to mine the rich veins of naquahdah Sam had discovered beneath. SG-1 had insisted on seeing this one through to the end. Both Jack and Daniel, in particular, had argued vehemently that there not be a repeat of what happened on Tonane’s planet – spirits or no.

When they arrived back at the heart of the village, the morning meal was being served. Jack was handing out spiced bread from a horno-type oven to the children, somehow making it into game that Daniel had yet to figure out. The children and Jack were laughing which made Daniel smile fondly. Tovohkeso, taking in the same sight, as well as Daniel’s reaction, knew that these sacred souls would bring great things to his tribe. He wished to honour them in turn.

“Daniel!” Jack waved him over with a piece of bread.

The last of the children received their food and were seated. Jack handed Daniel some spiced bread and a small serving of green-ish looking goop. “Ith guacamow, bugh spitheh!” he announced with a mouthful of food. Daniel disregarded Jack’s cryptic words and sniffed the goop, accidently catching a fraction with his nose. Jack swallowed and absentmindedly wiped the tip of Daniel’s nose with his thumb. “Guacamole. Spicy.” Jack’s voice was horse as he handed Tovohkeso his share. “Good!” he avowed convincingly to the elder with the ghost of a smile, raised eyebrows; and a goop covered thumbs up.

“This is interesting, actually, avocados are native to Central America, far south of where Tovohkeso’s people were taken by the Goa’uld.”

“They’re not… avocados, exactly,” Jack informed him, suppressing an errant eruct. “They’re avocado-like, native to this planet apparently, kinda tart…”

“Your Jack is correct, Daniel. When the Bits’ana brought our ancestors to Asetóvatse, they first believed it to be the fifth world. They had very little, some seeds of azee. They adapted and became a part of this world, as we are now. It honors us to share with you what we have and in turn to receive your gifts from our ancestor’s home.”

“It, ah, honors us greatly also, Tovohkeso.” Daniel nodded, sharing the elder’s sincerity. Geological surveys and such were yet to be completed, but preliminary agreements were already in place as to how the naquahdah would be mined with minimal harm done to the ecosystem, and the re-plantation of any lost flora. Since Earth’s treaty with the Asgard and Goa’uld system lords was implemented, the decision makers in Washington were finally willing to concede to the rights of those whom they wished to trade for naquahdah, regardless of their level of technological development. They weren’t in as big a rush.

“Then I am greatly pleased. We are blessed to have two-spirits among us this day. It would fill my heart to see you joined in our ways. A bond between yourselves and our peoples. Please consider it my gift to you. And a sign for the other elders and our Chief that placing our trust and our land in your hands is the right thing to do.”

“Joined, huh…” Jack said around another mouthful of bread. “Well as long as it’s not of the snaked variety…”

“I promise you there is no use of serpents in the ceremony, only yourselves.”

“Thank you, Tovohkeso,” Daniel intervened. “We will give your offer …great consideration.”

“That is all I ask, Daniel. For now there is work to be done.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Jack had scaled many a fish in his day, even skinned a small mammal or two when the need arose, but never anything as large and as smelly as what he had helped with today. The creature had been somewhere between a lion and a really pissed off koala, and parts of it were still clinging to Jack’s shirt and arms. The water from the river was cool and inviting and if this were another time and place, Jack would have fully immersed himself, if only to get rid of the offending odour.

Tovohkeso found Jack seated beside the river while his shirt dried on a nearby tree branch. “I hear you helped with a hunt today.”

Jack’s gaze swept up to his shirt, searching for invisible stains. “Yeah, well, killin’ it was the easy part…”

Tovohkeso lowered himself to the ground beside Jack. “Destruction is always hastier than creation.”

Jack’s lip curled into a grin. “Is that your not so subtle way of telling us we damn well better honor our side of the mining agreement?” Tovohkeso regarded Jack’s bemused but weary expression with an honest smile. While his heart was good, Jack did not speak the true words of his mind. “Your Daniel is a storyteller, yes?”

Jack knew better than to question the abrupt tangent in their conversation. “My Daniel… Daniel has stories coming out his waazoo. Beats me if I understand half of them, but yes, he knows his …stuff.”

“We need to understand our past in order to embrace our future.” Tovohkeso’s knowing smile was firmly in place.

“Sounds familiar…” Jack replied.

They sat in silence while the wind danced along the river.

~~~~~~~~~~

After a day of further negotiations with the chief and other elders of Asetóvatse, Daniel was ready to throw himself upon his sleeping bag and welcome slumbers enticing pull. Too bad his restless mind had other ideas. Jack was already asleep when he reached their tent. Relaxed features, body curled towards Daniel’s sleeping bag and the entrance to their tent. Daniel studied Jack a moment further before readying himself for bed. There were more discussions planned for tomorrow, and Tovohkeso wanted he and Jack for some joining ceremony, Two-spirits… _his Jack…_

“Jack!” Daniel raised himself up mere seconds after his head had hit the pillow. “Jack!” he hissed.

“Mmwhat?” Jack’s voice was thick with sleep and he didn’t even bother to open his eyes.

“We need to talk about the joining ceremony.”

“The what? Joining…?”

“The ceremony Tovohkeso wants us to… participate in, tomorrow.”

“What about it? Aren’t we just becoming one big happy family?” Jack finally blinked himself into a semi-conscious state.

“Well, not all of us…”

_“Daniel?”_

Daniel frowned, never a good sign.

“What do we have to do? Peace pipe? Sweat lodge? I’m running out of cliché’s here, Daniel…”

“We have to get married,” Daniel expelled quickly on a breath. “He called us ‘Two-spirits’, Jack.”

“Yeah, so? Daniel – one, Jack – two.” Jack counted off on his fingers.

“No, it means we have two each.”

“Huh…”

“That’s it? Just ‘huh’?” Daniel expected Jack’s reaction to be different, to be… louder.

“Well, with that attitude your chances of us getting hitch are getting slimmer.”

“I don’t know why I even try to predict how you’re going to react, or how you feel about this …stuff!” Daniel exasperated.

“Hey, no c’mon, wait…” Jack raised himself into a seated position. “So we both have two spirits, apparently?”

“It’s a blanket term, I suppose it can be applied to anyone gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, androgynous… In essence it means we have both a male spirit and female spirit within us. I guess they assumed because you took on the chores of both men and women, and I, well I’m not exactly sure.”

“Gay?”

Daniel was frustrated, why was Jack so complacent about the whole thing? “I don’t know, Jack. Maybe because we’re close… or we _were…_ ”

“We’re close.” Jack’s voice was quiet, but firm.

“Yeah.” Daniel sounded unconvinced. He closed his eyes when he felt Jack’s warm palm come to rest on the back of his neck. “I meant what I said,” Jack uttered each word slowly, “The whole thing, we’re solid. Could it be… _more solid_? I dunno.”

‘ _More solid._ ’ What the hell did that mean? Daniel opened his eyes, looking sideways up into Jack’s face. “You think it could be more? That we could be…?”

“I don’t know, Daniel. Could it?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I asked you.”

“I don’t…” Jack sighed. This was Daniel, his best friend in the whole world. The guy knew more about him that anyone; he had died for Jack, and he had forced Jack to live… This was Daniel with the kind heart and kind eyes and a mouth that could rip you a new one in as many languages as you could count. He made the Stargate work, he made Jack… live. “It’s… possible.”

Daniel had watched the entire deliberation play out on Jack’s face. His response came without him even thinking about it. “Yeah, it’s possible.”

Jack used the hand on Daniel’s neck to slide around his shoulders and pull Daniel to his side in a rough half-hug. Both their heads hung, eyes refusing to meet with a twinge of embarrassment at their admissions. Jack coughed. “You know, I ah… the 70’s...”

Well that answers that question. Daniel huffed, “Yeah, college…” he admitted. He felt Jack’s head rise and he met his questioning eyes. “Teaching… I was teaching at the time.”

Jack smiled to himself. “Prrrrroffesssorrr,” he purred.

“Graduate student instructor,” Daniel corrected.

They stared at one another.

“Should we? Can I…?” Jack’s gaze flickered down to Daniel’s mouth and back up.

“Um…” Daniel froze. Jack lowered his head once more, forehead brushing Daniel’s temple. Sitting here with Jack, in his arms, well… arm, it was nice, it was safe. It was ok, Jack was home. Gently they moved closer, skin and hair rubbing, sliding, tickling. Suddenly, there was a fog of doubt settling over Daniel’s mind. Jack’s touch seemed to drive it away, but as the corners of their mouths met, Daniel’s heart ached and he let out a soft sob. Jack halted his movements, held still and when there was no response from Daniel, he began to pull away.

“Hey, I’m sorry” “I’m sorry” They both whispered at the same time. Jack looked questioningly at Daniel.

“I thought I… but Sha’re…”

Jack felt ice cold. Fuck. What a stupid idea, why were they even discussing…

“Stop. I can hear you blaming yourself from here.” Daniel’s gaze fell to the ground. “I wanted… I want…” he sighed, frustrated again, “I just need…” _Time_. Time to grieve, time to say goodbye, and time to figure out how to love two people at once. Love? Yes. Maybe not the same love just yet, but love all the same.

“Daniel.” Jack’s low voice vibrated as his lips rose to plant a kiss in Daniel’s hair and he held him.

~~~~~~~~~~

They had stayed up half the night together, agreeing to the joining ceremony in order to strengthen ties with Asetóvatse, and to send Sam and Teal’c home first thing, in order to report on the proceedings of the mining agreement. By mid-morning a slight chill still hung in the air.

It was a staid ceremony compared to some that they had engaged in off world. Jack and Daniel knelt before one another, shirtless to make the painting of their backs easier. The wind whipped gently against their skin, dulled by the strokes of paint etching their flesh.

At first they were cold and embarrassed, but as the spines painted on their backs began to take shape they caught each other’s gaze; and the wind, the brightly dressed members of the tribe, and Tovohkeso, all faded to grey. This was the beginning of something new. It wasn’t quite defined, but it was growing. Destroying their friendship was quick and grotesquely easy. Now they were creating a future together; and that, would take time.

[ ](http://tinypic.com?ref=nbxg7b)

Asetóvatse from asetóovaotse - ‘swept away by water’  
Tovohkeso from Tóvôhkéso - ‘Swift Fox’  
Bits’ana from bit’sádi’nídíín ‘anáá – ‘glowing eyes’  
Azee from ‘azee’ – ‘chili’ 


End file.
